Wang T, Wu D, Wang Y, Huang T, Histand G, Wang T, Zeng H. One-step solvothermal fabrication of Cu@PANI core-shell nanospheres for hydrogen evolution.
NANOSCALE 2018;
10:22055-22064. [PMID:
30452053 DOI:
10.1039/c8nr06245e]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Polyaniline(PANI)-decorated Cu nanoparticles were prepared by a facile solvothermal method. Different reaction temperatures resulted in different morphologies of the Cu/PANI composites, which exhibited good photocatalytic activities. When the mass ratio of PANI increased to 2.5 wt%, the H2 evolution rate reached 1.97 mmol g-1 h-1 in lactic acid solution under solar light irradiation, which is about 2 times higher than that of pure Cu nanoparticles (1.06 mmol g-1 h-1). The introduction of PANI can improve the separation efficiency of the photo-generated electron-hole pairs, where PANI acts as a hole reservoir for trapping holes generated by the Cu NPs and hindering the recombination of the electron-hole pairs. A possible mechanism is presented to explain the photocatalytic process using Cu@PANI core-shell nanospheres as the photocatalyst.
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